In this episode we cover the rest of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything, and we investigate the authors’ claims that:
The seasonal social structures of the traditional Nambikwara, Lakota and Kwakiutl were the result of conscious choice, grand theatre, play and expedience.
That rich ice age burials were examples of ritually celebrated “freaks”rather than examples of hierarchy - but that they were also somehow examples of hierarchy at the same time (??).
In doing so we discover a whole lot of nonsense, in particular that:
Graeber & Wengrow seem to have invented a bunch of things that the authors they cite didn’t say.
Graeber & Wengrow repeatedly claim that the authors that they cite attribute social phenomena to conscious choice when in reality their sources attribute them to material conditions.
Claude Levi-Strauss goofed up Nambikwara social organization.
And we look at materialist explanations for phenomena such as:
Inuit seasonal social structures, including seasonal gender hierarchy, settlement patterns and property rights.
The similarities between Nuer prophets and ancient Israelite prophets in the Old Testament.
Finally, we apply the authors’ logic about conscious choice and seasonal social structures to McDonalds employees and have a good a laugh.
